MC starts citywide digital audit of Central, state govt assets in Amritsar

The Amritsar Municipal Corporation has begun digital mapping of properties belonging to the Central and state governments under the Union Finance Ministry’s Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment Scheme. Through this exercise, officials will be able to identify the number and location of buildings, offices, residential quarters and leased properties owned by various departments.

The Property Tax Department has assigned the responsibility to five superintendents, who have written to 85 government departments in the city seeking detailed information. Ten departments have already submitted their data. A letter has also been sent to the Railways so that details of railway land and buildings can be added to the system.

For Central Government properties, six categories have been created: vacant land, office buildings, railway land, land under Public-Private Partnership (PPP), National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) land and other government land. For state government properties, the categories include vacant land, office buildings, land under PPP, residential complexes and other government land.

The work is being carried out under the supervision of the Municipal Corporation’s Urban Planner. After collecting information, the superintendents will submit the data to the Urban Planner for verification and digital uploading. Similar data collection exercises are underway in Jalandhar and Ludhiana.

Officials said the Municipal Corporation often faces disputes related to leased properties, and the digital database will help clarify ownership and status. Many times, officials are not aware of how many leased properties exist or where they are located. Once the mapping is complete, it will be easier to check whether a leased property is allotted to someone or lying vacant.

Superintendents Davinder Singh Babbar (North), Tarsem Singh (South), Lavleen Sharma (East), Pushpinder Singh (West) and Raj Kumar (Central) have been tasked with collecting property details from all government departments.